Love and Other Drugs
by Born2teach
Summary: Lindsey and Derek had the perfect marraige, until one man came between them, bringing a lot more than either of them bargained for.


It had only taken one time. One time for her to get hooked. From there on out she lost everything- her home, her job, her husband. But worst of all, she had lost her daughter. There was no way that Derek would let her have contact with their three year old little girl while her mother was shacking up with some guy who introduced her to a world of drugs, mainly cocaine. Maybe it all started when Derek began working even longer hours at the hospital. For months on end, Lindsey would put all her effort into keeping the house clean, the child happy, and still have time to put a hot meal on the table come dinnertime. But Derek seldom made it home to enjoy those meals.

Lindsey Shepherd had been married to her husband Derek for five years. Two years into their marriage, they welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Kenzie. Six months after Kenzie was born, the family moved to Seattle where Derek was offered a position as the head attending neurosurgeon for Seattle Grace Hospital. At first, Lindsey was excited about the move. Derek had built them a beautiful new home, complete with a yard big enough for six kids to play in. He had always given her everything, but unfortunately it was the simple things in life that Lindsey began to miss. It broke her heart everytime she would put Kenzie to bed without him. The little girl was very attatched to Lindsey, but she adored her father and the times they had together. When he was unable to make it home from work on time to tuck her in at night, it truly upset Kenzie. This was often the cause of many arguments between Lindsey and Derek. It must have been too much for young Lindsey to handle. After all, she was only twenty-eight years old, a good seven years younger than her husband. She worked at an upscale salon where she did hair for some of the high rollers around town. Many of Derek's colleagues came to her salon, requesting Lindsey as their stylist.

It was a cold December night that Lindsey met Nick. They had both attended a wedding that evening, and Derek was unable to make it due to work. Nick was a single man, around Lindsey's age. She noticed him before they were even sat at the same table. He stood around five foot eight, had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and the whitest teeth she had ever seen. They got to talking over dinner that evening, and before they knew it, the two of them were intoxicated. He made her laugh and the man could dance! He whisked her away to the dance floor and believe it or not, Lindsey felt no guilt while dancing with him that night. She couldn't remember the last time she had had that much fun. Despite her best judgement, Lindsey gave into Nick before the night was over, and she kissed him for what seemed like hours. It wasn't until the next day that she felt lousy for doing it.

Lindsey had kept the details of the wedding from Derek, but she failed to remember giving Nick her cell phone number. On the nights when Derek would be at the hospital working, Lindsey would have long conversations with him. Derek happened to stumble upon many text messages from Lindsey's crush, while using her phone one day. It hadn't even occurred to her to delete them. He confronted her that very night. Derek had been waiting for her in the bedroom while she said goodnight to Kenzie.

Lindsey came back into their bedroom and began to undress for bed. She removed her top, clad in a black lacey bra and her hip hugging jeans. She looked up at him and frowned. "Derek? Is something wrong?"

He held up the phone and calmly asked her, "Who's Nick?"

Lindsey swallowed hard and pulled a tank top over her head. She made her way over to the bed and sat at the very edge of it. "I met him at Marisa's wedding. We um…we've been talking."

"Talking?" he replied incredulously. "Lindsey, your phone is filled with text messages from this guy. He's talking about how badly he wants to kiss you AGAIN? He calls you BABE?"

"Derek…it's not what you think- -"

"Oh really?" he cut her off, "Then tell me what is it like? Because as far as I know, you're sleeping with this guy while I'm off trying to earn a living for this family. You do remember your family right?"

"Of course I do! I never slept with him, Derek, I swear! We kissed." She looked down shamefully, while Derek ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Jesus Christ, Lindsey."

Nearly three months after this discovery, Lindsey confessed that she had finally slept with Nick. Derek kicked her out of the house. So she took their daughter and went to stay with the man that had torn Derek's family apart. The only reason she got away with it is because Derek was not home enough to look after Kenzie. It killed him to know that his two year old daughter was living with a stranger. Lindsey tried to be as cordial and cooperative as possible with Derek. They seperated just days after she moved out, and before he knew it, Derek was seeing his daughter on a schedule.

Derek was not ready to admit that his marriage was over. He was not prepared to lose Lindsey at all, let alone to some young stud with a drug problem. He was not aware of Nick's drug use until Lindsey dropped Kenzie off at Derek's house one day, and her eyes could not have looked more stoned. Derek wasn't stupid. After nearly ripping her head off for even driving under any kind of influence of drugs, Derek refused to bring Kenzie back to her mother. What started out as an occasional thing for Lindsey, smoking marijuana, turned into a bad habit. It only grew worse when she began experimenting with cocaine that her new boyfriend was offering to her. He had been doing it on and off for years. Before Lindsey knew it, Derek had taken her to court. Since she was unable to provide the courts with a clean urine sample, Derek was temporarily granted full custody of their daughter. Of course he felt bad about what he was doing, but he had to think about Kenzie and what was safe for her. He just wondered how his life had gotten to this point…


End file.
